Term: Matched Cohorts

Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2015-05-12

Definition:

Two groups of individuals in a study who are made to have a similar distribution on some confounding characteristics (typically demographics such as age, sex, residence, income, etc.). One group is the study cohort and they will all share a characteristic to be analyzed, such as diagnosed with a disease or exposed to a drug or vaccine, while the other group is the comparison cohort and they will not have this characteristic or exposure.

In Martens et al. (2015), smokers were matched to non-smokers on age (within five years, with priority given to exact matches), sex, income quintile, and Regional Health Authority (RHA), and matching was nested within survey.

Related concepts 

• Matching Cases to Controls Using a Direct Matching Method
• Risk Set Sampling (Matching) with Replacement

Related terms 

• Cohort
• Matching Cases and Controls
• Regional Health Authority (RHA)

References 

• Martens P, Nickel N, Forget E, Lix L, Turner D, Prior H, Walld R, Soodeen RA, Rajotte L, Ekuma O. The Cost of Smoking: A Manitoba Study. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2015. [Report] [Summary] [Updates and Errata] [Additional Materials] (View)